Homegate: Stefanie Fritze becomes CMO

Stefanie Fritze joins the management of Homegate as the new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) from 01.04.2016. She assumes responsibility for the entire marketing of the leading Swiss real estate portal and reports to CEO Axel Konjack.

The 40-year-old has more than fifteen years of experience in marketing and digital. Most recently, as Market Lead Austria and Switzerland, she led the MSN platform at Microsoft Switzerland and was also responsible for the Group's digital product innovations and partnerships in both countries. Before joining Microsoft Switzerland, Stefanie Fritze spent several years managing digital content and business development projects at Swiss radio and television station SRF and southwest German radio station RPR1.

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Born in Germany, she started her professional career at the Schwarzwälder Bote publishing group. Stefanie Fritze holds a degree in business administration and studied in Ravensburg. Axel Konjack, CEO Homegate, is pleased in a statement: "Stefanie Fritze is a digital all-rounder and an ideal addition to Homegate's new management team."

Seed: Touching and informing for Swiss Life

Seed has produced two films for the Swiss Life Group. The focus is on living a longer, self-determined life.

With the touching film "What matters in life", Swiss Life expresses in just over three minutes how important self-determination is. Over 30 people, from a three-year-old toddler to a 103-year-old senior citizen, express their views and encourage viewers to think about their own lives. The film was directed by Elias Ressegatti.

The second film, directed by Adrian Wisard, focuses on the facts. Swiss Life gives a brief overview of its markets, products and services with a twinkle in its eye. The film was made using the stop motion technique.

The films are used at events for customers, partners and employees, in social media and on Swiss Life's online channels. Swiss Life has created its own film program on the topic of a longer, self-determined life. Content Hub where articles, interviews and blog posts are available. Seed conceived and realized the two films as general contractor.

Evoq brings RTR to the road

With a roadshow and a converted vintage VW bus serving as a multimedia vehicle, Evoq is bringing Radiotelevisiun Svizra Rumantscha (RTR) to the streets of Graubünden. The brand is repositioning itself with the slogan «al Puls dal Grischun.».

Recently, the vintage VW bus has been on the road in Graubünden as a multimedia mobile called "Microlotta". The vintage VW bus (1974), developed by evoq, propagates the program offering of RTR, the television and radio of Rhaeto-Romanic Switzerland. It is to be made known to a broader Grisons population - with a special focus on new online offerings.

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First stop of the roadshow at Mauritiusplatz in St. Moritz (Photo: Evoq)

The bus is equipped with audio, video and multimedia infrastructure. It was converted by Diprint and technically realized by TPC Zurich. The screens show live images from the radio studio and Rhaeto-Romanic TV broadcasts, but also social media content that encourages participation and sharing. Interested people can meet the presenters in person or chat with them. With the "Play RTR" app, visitors can experience the RTR broadcasts on permanently installed iPads using videos and podcasts.

RTR's concern: having its finger on the pulse

"In close collaboration with those responsible at RTR, we developed the brand positioning with communication matrix in parallel with the roadshow," says Evoq Partner and Creative Director Christian Sutter. "This gave rise to the claim "al Puls dal Grischun," which is at the heart of the communication. Reflect the pulse of Rhaeto-Romanic Switzerland at the place where it happens. To be where the audience is. Radio and television very close to the local population, to touch and participate. The VW bus "Microlotta" functions as a sympathy carrier and eye-catcher."

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Photos bus: RTR

The "pulse" was visualized with appropriate graphic elements, which at the same time recall the topography of the mountain canton. It shapes RTR's future brand identity visually and ideally, and will be applied to all media, from advertising locomotives to advertisements. The new graphic elements expand RTR's corporate design, which is based on SRF's specifications.

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"Microlotta" will be present at numerous events, open airs and festivals this year. The bus owes its name to the RTR audience, which was able to submit suggestions on various RTR online platforms and was then drawn by lot on the radio.

 

Joint solution sought: Swiss financial service providers mobilize against Apple

Credit Suisse, Postfinance, Raiffeisen, UBS, ZKB, SIX, Coop, Migros, and Swisscom have begun discussions regarding a joint Swiss solution for mobile payments. So far, two systems have been competing, but Apple could soon enter the market.

According to the press release, the talks are "open-ended". They are intended to clarify whether and to what extent a joint, strong and customer-friendly mobile payment system can be rolled out "across all channels, across the board and quickly" in Switzerland. Although the recently launched mobile payment solutions from Postfinance (Twint) and SIX (Paymit) have met with interest from consumers, retailers and banks, they differ in terms of usage options and their technological backgrounds. The various financial service providers are now examining the possibility of working together to offer Swiss consumers and retailers an integrated and standardized solution for digital payment transactions.

Swiss Post and Postfinance have a mandate from the Federal Council to provide a payment transaction infrastructure for Switzerland. SIX and the banks, in turn, want to be able to offer their customers a direct and secure interface. There is therefore agreement between the parties that talks to evaluate a solution adapted to Swiss requirements are sensible and necessary, according to the press release.

Common solution for all market participants

The joint solution could be used by all customers and would be open to all merchants, banks, payment card issuers and other market participants. Existing customer contracts would be transferred depending on the solution. Investment protection for business customers with regard to infrastructure and system adaptations would remain guaranteed, the participating parties write.

The parties involved will inform the public about the initial results of the talks by the beginning of May at the latest. In the meantime, the development of the two solutions will continue unchanged. Announced new functions of Twint (digital stamp cards, couponing, direct account connection) and Paymit (payment at the point of sale, in-app payment, payment in e-commerce) will be introduced as planned regardless of the progress of the talks.

Trembling before Apple

With the possible alliance, the largest Swiss financial institutions want to arm themselves against the imminent market entry of Apple Pay - instead of fighting each other as before. Until now, Six and Postfinance have been trying to win over the banks to their solutions. The fear of Apple does not seem unfounded. Not only because the Swiss target audience for mobile payment extremely iPhone-savvy but also because Apple has already enjoyed resounding success with Apple Pay in the USA and has been able to assert itself against its competitors.

Apple's market entry may not be long in coming. According to the US company Finews.ch In March, the Apple Pay brand was registered with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property. And patents have long since been registered in the USA that are also making the local financial sector sit up and take notice: For example, the retrieval of account information in order to be able to place targeted advertising on mobile devices. An indication that Apple not only wants to get into personal finance management, but also into the sale of financial products. Apple has also filed a patent for peer-to-peer payments - the very service that Paymit and Twint offer. (hae)

 

Actor and director Paul Roland died

Paul Roland, an actor, director, and radio personality from Bern, has died. Roland passed away last week at the age of 84, his family announced on Wednesday.

Roland has worked as an actor and director mainly in Bern, at the Städtebundtheater Biel-Solothurn and at the Komödie in Basel, as well as in Germany. In 1993, he received the Hans Reinhart Ring from the Swiss Society for Theater Culture for his services to Swiss theater. In Bern, he gained great merit with the expansion of the drama school, which he directed from 1965 to 1996. In radio, he was one of the first creators of the short radio play "Schreckmümpfeli," as the newspaper Der Bund reported on Wednesday in a Obituary mentioned. (SDA)

Photo: Derbund.ch

Snapchat gears up to fight Facebook

The app Snapchat, known primarily for self-deleting photos, has significantly expanded its functions. After the latest update, users can also make phone calls to each other and send each other a wide variety of additional files.

The idea is to easily switch between different forms of communication - such as text, stickers, photo, audio or video - the Californian company explained in a blog post. This brings Snapchat closer to large providers such as WhatsApp or Facebook. Probably to make itself more competitive, Snapchat has also updated its privacy settings. According to a report by online service Digiday, this should enable more targeted advertising. Snapchat was founded in Los Angeles in 2011 and was initially popular with teenagers. The app, which is available on Android and iOS, can be used to send photos that are only visible for a few seconds and then delete themselves. According to the company, more than 100 million people use Snapchat every day. In parallel, the photo service Instagram also expanded its offering. In the future, one-minute videos can be sent via the app; previously, only clips of 15 seconds were possible. Instagram, like Whatsapp, belongs to the Facebook group. (SDA)

Mobiliar goes mobile on the Internet

The insurer Mobiliar is acquiring a 50% stake in the Swiss online marketplace Scout24. To this end, Mobiliar purchased the shares held by the investment firm KKR and other shareholders. Ringier holds the remaining stake in the company.

The purchase was made in the spring, as Ringier, Mobiliar and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) announced on Wednesday. The purchase price was not disclosed. For the insurance company, the move is a way to expand its digital marketplace close to its core business. Together with Ringier, Mobiliar wants to make Scout24 the leading system around cars and real estate, it said. Ringier said it would now take Scout24 to the next stage together with Mobiliar after thriving growth with KKR. Scout24 Switzerland includes the car platform Autoscout24, the real estate marketplace Immoscout24, and the classifieds platforms Anibis.ch and Gratis-Inserate.ch. Gratis-Inserate.ch had only been acquired at the beginning of March. (SDA)

CR Basel: Clear text for BZ Basel

A new campaign created by CR Basel gets to the heart of the matter for the daily newspaper BZ Basel.

The BZ Basel/Basellandschaftliche Zeitung is the independent daily newspaper of Basel and its region that upholds basic journalistic values in its reporting: The new campaign developed by CR Basel, with advertisements, public transport measures, radio spots and films, illustrates this with a concert of deleted text passages to highlight what is really important in a short, concise and unadulterated way.

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Responsible at AZ Medien: Zaira Noro (Head of Marketing), Myriam Born (Publishing Manager). Responsible at CR Basel: Gabriel Heuberger (CD), Judith Mann (text), Thomas Schaub (AD), Daniel Roth, Ruedi Rominger (graphics), Thomas Fux (consulting).
 

SRG Ombudsman's Office Sees Itself as a "Wall of Complaint

In 2015, the Ombudsman’s Office of SRG Deutschschweiz received 202 complaints regarding programs broadcast by Swiss Radio and Television (SRF). Meanwhile, the percentage of justified cases has decreased from 24 to 17 percent. The office sees itself as a «wailing wall.».

The increase in complaints cannot be interpreted as a sign of a general deterioration of the programs, the ombudsman's office wrote in its statement on Tuesday. Rather, it is increasingly being called upon as a "wall of complaint".

Information and political broadcasts targeted

Television viewers were particularly critical of information and political programs such as "Tagesschau" (31 submissions), "10 vor 10" (12 submissions) and "Rundschau" (10 submissions). The radio audience complained mainly about the satirical program "Zytlupe" (9 submissions), the news in general (7 submissions) and about contributions to "Regionaljournal" (6 submissions). Apart from 2014, when over 500 complaints were received, the ombudsman's office has never dealt with as many complaints as in 2015 in the last ten years. In 2014, two programs alone caused a lot of trouble: 110 complaints were received about a "Rundschau" report on the purchase of Gripen, and as many as 185 about the "Schawinski" program with Andreas Thiel.

The number of justified complaints decreased: In 2015, 17 percent (previous year: 24 percent) of complaints were considered "more or less justified. In contrast, 83 percent were "more or less unjustified" in the eyes of the ombudsman's office. 16 cases were referred to the Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television.

Election year takes its toll

The 2015 election year is also reflected in the statistics: 24 complaints criticized broadcasts that were directly or indirectly related to the elections. It was noticeable that these complaints came almost exclusively from people with an affinity to the SVP. All of them were considered unjustified. On the other hand, seven submissions regarding a "Kassensturz" report were judged to be justified. This dealt with the attitude of the parties regarding consumer protection. (SDA)

Heide Hauer becomes Associate Director Communications Europe of Mondelez

Food manufacturer Mondelez International welcomes Heide Hauer as Associate Director Communications Europe at its European headquarters in Glattpark Zurich. Hauer will take up the position on April 1, 2016.

With the spin-off of its coffee business at the beginning of July last year, the world's third-largest food manufacturer is now focusing even more strongly on the confectionery business and is also reorganizing its communications under Heide Hauer. Mondelez International, known in this country mainly for the production of the traditional Swiss chocolate Toblerone and its production plant in the Bern area, manages the European business from Glattpark. Heide Hauer, who previously headed Corporate Affairs in Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia and held the position of Area Manager Internal Communications for Central Europe, will move to the company's European headquarters in Zurich on April 1.

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The Austrian returned to Vienna in 2012 after six years abroad and was initially responsible for corporate communications for Mondelez Austria, after which other responsibilities were added. During this time, Heide Hauer provided communications support for the repositioning of Kraft Foods Austria to Mondelez Austria and, last summer, for the spin-off of the coffee division. Hauer started at Cadbury's headquarters in London in 2009 as Global Public Affairs Manager. After the confectionery company was acquired by Kraft Foods, she worked in the company's EU representation in Brussels. Heide Hauer is a graduate of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.

"Mondelez International underwent a complete organizational realignment last year, which meant that the topic of change communication was very much in the foreground. In my role as CE Area Manager, I therefore focused more on internal communication, which is essential for the success of a company, especially after a major upheaval. Now I am looking forward to accompanying the company through its transformation phase, coupled with a clear growth agenda, also at the European level," Heide Hauer said in a statement.

 

Nemuk produces two films for Sucht Schweiz

As part of an awareness campaign for family members of people with alcohol use disorder, the Zurich-based agency Nemuk has produced two informational videos.

The films, which were commissioned by the Swiss Foundation for Addiction and financially supported by the National Alcohol Program (NPA), tell the stories of several people affected by alcoholism and feature the voices of experts who, as therapists and counselors, care for relatives of alcoholics.

In Switzerland, around half a million people suffer from the alcohol dependence of family members, and 100'000 children grow up in families affected by alcohol. Although the relatives of alcoholics are often exposed to great stress, only just under 4 percent of them seek professional help.

In order to inform relatives of addicts about the existing counseling services and to raise awareness among a broad audience, Nemuk has produced two eight-minute films. The first of the two parts (Alcohol dependence: a burden also for relatives) deals with the burdens that relatives of alcoholics are exposed to. The second part (Alcohol dependence: How relatives can find support) presents very concrete offers of help for relatives.

Responsible at Addiction Switzerland: Sabine Dobler, Marion Forel. Responsible at Nemuk: Thierry Figini, Naomi Meran, Ottavia Masserini (concept, screenplay, project management); film and editing: Makanart, Markus Zehnder & Joshua Pflüger.

Addictive Films: An original can not be dubbed

Original instead of dubbed version: Addictive Films has created three new commercials for Independent Pictures.

A movie only offers the full cinematic experience in the original. Even if you don't speak Finnish, Urdu or Basque, the tone of the language and the emotions at play offer the full cinematic experience. Exactly what the makers had in mind. Because every movie and every actor loses its original character with the dubbed voices.

Independent Pictures, the trademark of the Swiss Studio Film Association, is now countering the tendency to watch more dubbed versions. The aim of the commercials is to encourage viewers to choose the original version over the dubbed version. In collaboration with Addictive Films, three commercials have been created that demonstrate that great emotions such as love, anger or despair only really sound like the original. The inspiration comes from classic studio film genres themselves. A French amour fou, British working class cinema and a Finnish world-weariness drama have been staged. Actors were recruited who are completely at home in the respective genres and use their original language in a targeted manner. Illka Koivula, for example, who has already shone in Aki Kaurismäki's Laitakaupungin valot (Lights in the Dusk). Or Déborah Révy, who is known from "Love", a much-discussed film by Gaspar Noe at the Cannes Festival. The spots can currently be seen in cinemas, online and, at a later date, on TV.

Responsible at Independent Pictures: Beat Käslin (Arthouse); Wolfgang Blösche Filmcoopi). Responsible at Addictive Films : Thomas Ammann (concept / text); Stephan Christen (creative producing / concept); Thomas Sabel (director); Marco Barberi (camera).
 

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